BAM! Your kite has hit the water. Perhaps your board is floating around upwind of you. Now what?
Anyone who’s kitesurfed or taken lessons knows this feeling. And what you do in the next few seconds can get you back and riding in a few seconds. Good kite relaunch technique can help you avoid coming back to the beach with a mess of wet kite and tangled lines. Or worse, without your board.
In light wind, relaunching the kite can be a delicate art. In strong wind, your kite might relaunch unexpectedly on its own. Here’s the long version, with all the details, of how to get that kite back up off the water in minimum time.
Here’s the first and most important thing:
Start by leaving the bar and lines alone. That’s right– DON’T start grabbing lines and trying to relaunch your kite! In fact, letting go of the bar is the first step in the relaunch process. The sooner you do this, the sooner your kite will be up in the air again. That’s because those back lines need to be as loose as possible for the kite to be able to do its thing and prepare itself for relaunching.
It’s understandable that many people feel a bit rushed at this point. But holding on to the bar, or starting to pull on the lines before the kite is ready for relaunch is actually the most common mistake students make. Being in a rush now usually only delays the process of getting your kite back in the air. We see this happening often.
Instead, follow these steps to relaunch your kite:
Fight that urge to grab the bar or the lines. Take a few seconds to look around and assess your situation (360 degree check) and the kite.
Check the situation around you: Is it safe to relaunch the kite right now?
If a kiter is approaching just up wind of you just as you relaunch, your lines can get tangled with theirs. The same is true if someone is in the water beside you stopped, or with a downed kite.
Is your kite pulling you toward a dangerous area where there are rocks, boats, waves, or other students? Are you approaching the downwind limit you have set? If so, you may need to pull the Quick Release and perform a self-rescue instead of trying to relaunch the kite. This will at least get you back to a safe spot on the beach in time.
How far are you from the beach? If you’re too close to the beach or the shorebreak, you’ll want to relaunch your kite on the side away from the beach. If you’re quite far out, it usually makes more sense to try to bring the kite up on the side toward the beach. That way, the kite will at least be bringing you closer to the beach while you try to relaunch.
Where is your board? If it’s within reach, you can hold on to it while you get the kite to the edge of the window at 3 or 9 o’clock. If it’s to one side or the other, you will probably want to relaunch it on the side closer to the board. It makes sense to check first, to minimize the time you have to spend bodydragging.
Check your bar and lines carefully.
Make sure the lines are not crossed or tangled. If they are crossed, spin the bar so that the lines are straight and parallel. Remember that if the kite is upside down on the leading edge, the red side will be on your right, not your left.
Check that the trim adjustment has not popped out, if you are using a cleat depower system. On some brands of kite this is a common occurrence. If the adjustment is all the way out, this may be why your kite backstalled in the first place. And it would make the kite harder to relaunch– this often happens in light wind.
Check that your chicken loop is secured completely on the hook. Sometimes the loop comes out partially or fully when the kite has crashed. This is often the case because people tend to pull on the bar too hard when the kite starts to go out of control. It happens to all of us.
Check to see that none of the lines are wrapped around the kite. If this has happened, it may damage the kite if you try to relaunch and fly it.
Make a decision: Relaunch, Wait, or Self-Rescue.
If you decide to make a self-rescue, be glad now that your school has not just talked about this on the beach, but ensured that you practiced it! This includes knowing whichever line wrapping technique is appropriate to the situation. And, how to flip the kite onto its side, then hold on to the bridle and leading edge to drag you back to the beach.
If the wind has dropped, changed direction, or your kite has lost air, you may be in for a swim (unless you are lucky enough to have a reliable boat or jetski self-rescue).
Now, check to see what your kite is doing.
If your kite is still moving around, give it time to settle into position. The good news is that in most situations, your kite will have already started to move into a position where you can relaunch it– that is, if you haven’t touched the bar or the lines! Even if there are some tangles in your lines, give it some to sort itself out. You’d be surprised. Even if the lines look messy, the wind often pushes the kite downwind and the lines untangle by themselves. Sometimes people panic just a bit, and pull the quick release unnecessarily.
So take your time, smile, look around, take a good look at your kite.
If your kite is already on its tip, at the edge of the window, you can relaunch it from there. Do a 360 degree check first to make sure it’s safe to relaunch. If it’s just fallen gently into that position, that’s not really a crash. You don’t need to let go of the bar.
If your kite is sitting on its trailing edge, first try swimming backward to put pressure on the front lines. If that doesn’t work, give a few long, strong pulls on the front lines. Grab above the bar, where the trim adjustment is. The kite will either shoot up in the air where you can try to regain control, or fall again on its leading edge. That’s where you need it to be for the next step. If the bar hasn’t moved out, up against the stopper, push it away. Otherwise, leave it alone.
If your kite is sitting on its nose, with the outside of the kite facing toward you, this is most likely because it has luffed (due to a lull or not enough bar tension) at 12 o’clock. Give it a few seconds, it will often orient itself into the right position on its own. If it doesn’t, you can pull smoothly on one back line to turn it around.
If it’s on the leading edge, with the inside of the kite facing you: Wait until the wind is filling the inside of the kite before pulling on any back line. We call this the “magic moment” and teach our students to recognize it right from day one of the beach lesson. If the kite is rotated a bit and the wind is hitting the outside of one of the tips, no amount of pulling the back lines will help.
Now, and only now, will pulling on one of the back lines do any good. Hold it just above the floater, on the side you want the kite to move toward. Make sure to use your left hand if you’re pulling on the kite’s left line. If you’re pulling on the right line, use your right hand.
Pull the back line smoothly and slowly until the kite starts to go up on its side and move toward 3 or 9 o’clock of the wind window. If the wind starts to hit the outside of the kite, you’ll know because the panels at the tip will flap. Let the line out again so that the kite fills up with wind.
Be ready to smoothly let it out as soon as the kite is on its side. If you continue pulling too much or for too long, the kite may backstall onto its trailing edge when it reaches the end of the window. This usually happens in light wind. Or, it will shoot up to the top of the window, dragging you far downwind.
Let the kite get to the edge of the window before trying to lift it up off the water. Once it’s there, you can do another quick 360 check to make sure it’s ok to relaunch. If you’re still holding on to the board, now is the time to let go.
You will need both hands to relaunch the kite. Take the bar in your hands to steer it up off the water. Remember that there is usually some water sitting inside the tip of the kite, causing it to stick to the surface. If the wind is very light, you can pull on the top back line. But keep your bottom hand on the bar (pushing away, so there’s no tension in that line). This way you don’t have to flail around to catch the bar again once the kite is in the air.
Stabilize the kite at 10 or 2 o’clock. At this point, sending the kite to 12 o’clock and then looking for your board doesn’t do any good. It’s a common mistake, and just pulls you downwind unnecessarily.
Go right into upwind bodydrag, if you don’t have your board with you. Scan the area to look for it while you are bodydragging.
Now you can breathe a sigh of relief, go get your board, and start riding again!
Overall points:
-Don’t touch any line until you are sure which line to pull on, and how much.
-Don’t touch the bar until after your kite is at 3 or 9 o’clock on the wind window.
-Don’t work your way up the lines when pulling. Do your pull, then let the line out and pull again. Otherwise, the kite lines are more likely to tangle, or wrap around your hand.
